


The Dark Spaces Between

by midnight_stars



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 17:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1175836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnight_stars/pseuds/midnight_stars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a small house on Privet Drive, there is a child who does not believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy or Sandman. In a home where magic is a forbidden word, how could a child learn of beings of magic? </p><p> </p><p>The Guardians will never know that they failed. They will never know that they failed to protect this child; the child who would later be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dark Spaces Between

**Author's Note:**

> Every time I watch Rise of the Guardians, I feel so conflicted. The Guardians are so focused on retaining the belief of children who already believe in them that they seem to forget that not all children have happy lives with supportive families. 
> 
> I always think of Harry Potter. A child who was never permitted to speak of magic (or anything acting or happening in an unusual way). A child who prior to his first year at Hogwarts never had a Christmas Present, or even mentioned Easter. Whose teeth were probably disposed of rather than exchanged for anything that he might value. Whose dreams are almost exclusively nightmares. Where were the Guardians then? (I know, in a completely different book series by a different author - But COME ON! THIS IS WHAT CROSSOVERS ARE FOR!)
> 
> I searched for hours for a fanfic addressing this before deciding to just write one of my own. 
> 
> I did this in less than an hour at 2:00 am and this is one of my first posted fanfics - ironically a drabble, my least favorite kind of fanfic. *sigh*
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Rise of the Guardians in any way. They belong to their respective creative geniuses, I just came to play.

### The Dark Spaces Between

In a small house on Privet Drive, there is a boy, who does not believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth fairy or Sandman. Nor indeed, has he ever heard their names. In a home where magic is a forbidden word, how could a child learn of beings of magic? 

In a small house on Privet Drive, there is a boy whose wonder and hope was never given a chance to flourish. Instead it was trampled by harsh words and harsher hands. There is a boy whose happy memories early in life are so obscured by the constant torrent of pain and hatred, that they are all but forgotten. In a cupboard under the stairs, there is a boy to whom pleasant dreams are painful, for they are in stark contrast to his life. He bears the knowledge that dreams, no matter how good, are temporary and never come true -- and sometimes it is better never to dream at all.

In a small house on Privet Drive, there is a lost soul -- pain, longing, and resignation ravaging at the innocence in the heart of a child.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Guardians do not know this. They do not know about the child that needs their protection. How could they? How would they feel the pain of the loss of a believer, when the belief was never there? 

Can you loose something you never had?

After all, the Guardians have so many believers, and they must focus on those who believe. They do not see what isn’t there. When they gaze at their Globe, they sigh in happiness at each pinprick of light, never really looking at the darkness in the spaces between. The shadows where wonder, hope and happiness have faded. They assume that there a simply no children there, and consider it no further. They do not see.

So every Christmas, North and his sleigh fly past Privet Drive without stopping. Each Easter, no eggs are left in the yard behind Number 4 for a child to find. Each lost tooth is thrown in the trash and forgotten so no coin is delivered. Every night that he sleeps, no dream sand comes to comfort him with dreams of love and comfort and safety.

The Guardians will never know that they failed. They will never know that they failed to protect this child; the child who would later be willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of others. 

The child who would become a Guardian all on his own; by his choice to die so that others wouldn’t have to. 

Is ignorance really bliss?


End file.
